


Pretending

by Kufikiria



Series: Any Time, Any Place [1]
Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-30
Updated: 2017-08-30
Packaged: 2018-12-21 17:56:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11949582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kufikiria/pseuds/Kufikiria
Summary: Amy Santiago isn’t one for telling lies – especially when it comes to lying to her mother. But when the latter pays her a visit for the weekend and starts telling her about a guy she wants to set her up with less than five minutes after she’s arrived, and her roommate happens to appear in the room at the exact same time, she isn’t really thinking when she lets the words out.“Mom, this is Jake… my boyfriend.”





	Pretending

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! So this is my first time posting something here... One of my very first Peraltiago fanfics, and my first AU with them.
> 
> This is unbeta'd, and my longest work in English ever (it's not my mother tongue) so I apologise in advance for possible mistakes or if it isn't as "smooth" as it could be. Hope you'll like it anyway!
> 
> You can find me on Tumblr, @b99peraltiago, I posted some other OS there that I might re-post here as well now that I have an account :)

“Amy, sweetheart, come here! I’ve missed you so much, darling!”

Amy barely has time to open the door of her apartment to her mother, who’s come to visit her in New-York for the weekend, that the latter is already taking her in her arms, genuinely happy to finally see her daughter again. It’s literally been months since the last time they saw each other – Amy didn’t go back home that often, and the same happened to her parents and her new city, even more so now that she’s sharing her place with one of her closest friends for money-saving purposes.

“I’ve missed you too, Mom,” she replies with a true smile appearing upon her face while she tightens their embrace. “How was your flight? Aren’t you too tired, do you need anything?” she then asks when they finally part, and takes her luggage in her own hands to help her come inside.

“It was fine, I guess. And _I_ am. I’ll have plenty of time to rest later. All I need now, is to know that my only daughter’s alright here too?”

“I am, yeah,” Amy answers, her grin never leaving her features – she’s just come to realise how much she’s missed her mother, and how glad she is that she’s here right now. “I mean, school is as interesting as it’s always been, my work at the university’s library is the best and well, I think Jake and I have finally found a way to make the best of our living together after some time adjusting to this new life as roommates,” she enunciates. “So everything’s _great_ , really.”

“No boyfriend, then?” her mother asks in all innocence, but Amy knows better than that. She knows her mother too well. So she knows what’s coming, what plans the woman has for her.

And she’s already pissed of what’s ovbiously coming. That’s why her only reply is a desperate “MOM!” she exclaims in a shocked tone. It’s only been five minutes since her arrival…

She should have guessed, though. Because Elena Santiago’s always been like this: questioning her child about her love life, and trying to set her up with some random guy she knows from being the son of her own friends. “The perfect match,” according to her own words – every time.

No need to point out Amy hates it when she does that, but she does it anyway.

“What?” she doesn’t seem taken aback by the young woman’s reaction. “I’m only asking because I met Shannon’s son the other night, and he’s a real sweetheart. You should meet him as well – I’m sure you too would get along.” She tries to be sutble, but completely fails at it.

Amy doesn’t answer right away, in search of a way to make her mother understand she has to stop doing this, even though she knows it’s a lost cause. She already tried several times to tell her, but she always denied the fact that she was talking to her about those men for that reason.

So she _knows_ she’ll hear about him for the whole weekend. Elena’s already rambling about how the meeting has been, and all the nice things he did during that time, and so on.

Hopefully the sudden noise of a closing door, and Jake appearing in the room, calling her, shushes her mother and saves her from the nightmare she’s living. “Ames, I'm… oh, hello ma'am!” he cuts himself off in the middle of what he was going to say when he sees his roommate isn’t alone, but with someone he’s never seen before – his mother, he assumes though, from the pictures in her room and because she simply asked awhile ago if he was okay with her spending a weekend here.

That’s how the thought comes into her mind, after one second of eye-contact with him. “Jake, meet my mother, Elena,” she first introduces her, before going on, turning to the older woman. “And I didn’t want to tell you just now, but since we were talking about it… Mom, this is Jake, my roommate… and _boyfriend_.”

The “what?!” that follows comes from both concerned parties, which finally makes Amy realise this wasn’t just a thought that came to her mind, but something she actually _said_ – and she immediately regrets it. She can’t take it back anymore though, would be too weird to explain, and it’s actually quite working in making her mother stop talking about this other guy, so… she just gives her roommate a pleading look not to blow this up and play along with her.

She’s really sorry she’s involving him in the matter without consulting him before, but she has no other choice than doing so right now. She’ll thank him with all she has later, she promises herself.

He seems to understand what she wants from him with this look, because he quickly corrects himself after regaining some composure. “Hum, what I meant is, ‘what, you’re already there?!’. I didn’t know you were arriving that early. Anyways, I’m sorry, it’s nice to finally meet you.” He gives her his hand for her to shake. “Amy really told me a lot about you!”

Maybe he’s a little bit too enthusiastic to sound true, but Elena doesn’t seem to notice. She justs takes his hand, and answers, her glaring gaze on her daughter while she speaks, “I’m afraid I can’t tell the same of you. I hope this weekend will make up for it.”

“I truly hope so too, but right now I need to go help a friend,” Jake excuses himself, before adding, “see you later?”

“I’m looking forward to it,” the mother genuinely answers with a smile this time, and he gives her one back. After that he starts to leave, then pauses for a few seconds.

He’s hesitant, you can see it in his eyes, but he takes a step back into the apartment, and closer to Amy. He quickly looks at her before finally making a move; he kisses her goodbye at the corner of her mouth, gently telling her, “bye, babe!” Then with that, he leaves for good.

She’s happy he’s gone before he has time to notice the blush that starts from the tip of her ears down her cheeks at this simple and brief contact of his lips on her. How is she supposed to come through the whole weekend like this? This was such a bad idea.

“Your Jake really seems like a charming man,” Elena takes her back to the reality of the moment. “Why wouldn’t you talk to me about him before? How long have you been dating anyway?”

This lie is going to put her in so much trouble, she realises while thinking about what she’s going to tell her mother to answer all the questions she must have right now…

* * *

 

“Jake? Are you listening to me? You’ve acted weird since you arrived. Why are you being weird?!”

It’s been at least thirty minutes, if not more, since the student left his apartment to join his best friend as they’d agree to do so earlier, but it seems like he just can’t concentrate on what Charles is telling him, still in shock from what happened before he left. That is, Amy introducing him as _her boyfriend_ in front of her mother, and him… kind of kissing her goodbye.

Why did he do that?! Okay, it was not to blow her cover and make it seem like they were an actual couple simply acting like one but still – he could have come up with something else, something less… _like this_. And more importantly, why did _she_ do that in the first place?!

“I kissed Amy,” he blurs it out finally, because he’s always told Charles anything anyway.

His reaction is yet to come. “WHAT?!” he shouts in pure enthusiasm. “What?” he repeats, processing what he’s just learnt. “Tell me EVERYTHING!”

“Calm down, Charles,” his friend immediately tries not to keep his hopes up – he knows how dearly the other student wishes them to get together, being one of the few who knows Jake’s true feelings about his roommate. “It wasn’t really a kiss,” he corrects, “just a peck at the corner of her mouth, nothing more, to make her mom believe she’s actually my girlfriend. For some reason it’s what she told her she was when she introduced us to each other.”

Charles wants to argue with something to that, but doesn’t have the chance, since just when he’s finished with his explanation, Jake’s phone starts buzzing. He takes it off his pocket then, and he can’t help a small smile from appearing on his face when he sees who the sender is. “Speaking of,” he shows it to his friend, then begins with reading her text out loud, so that the other student can hear what she has to tell him. _“I’m sorry about earlier. I wasn’t thinking. I just wanted her to stop talking to me about this guy she clearly wanted me to go on a date with, and you appeared at the same time, so… you looked like the best option at that time. I’m so sorry I dragged you into this.”_

“She’s _so_ in love with you too,” Charles can’t prevent himself from commenting.

“I’m not 'in love’, Charles,” Jake corrects him, rolling his eyes. “I just like her, that’s all. And why would you think she is anyway? It’s a pretty good excuse she gave here.”

“Yeah,” he insists. “A good excuse to be able to spend the weekend acting like you’re together when she’s too afraid to tell you what she truly feels.”

This statement actually makes the brunette think twice. It’s true she could have just told her mother to stop bothering her with this other guy without bringing this fake relationship up. It would have been easier than lying, especially for someone like _her_ who really don’t like to do so – even more so when it comes to her close relatives. But she must have had a good reason for it.

Amy Santiago _always_ had one, and there’s no way it’s because she just wanted to experiment what “being-in-an-actual-relationship-with-Jake” looked like.

“Whatever,” he simple mumbles then, not wanting to talk about it more, and just takes his phone back to type his answer.

_No probs. I understand._

He sends another one right after, unable to keep it for himself.

_(Btw “you looked like the best solution at that time” – title of your sex-tape ;))_

It’s a running-joke he’s had on her for a long time now, but that he never gets tired of – probably never will be.

Her own answer comes right after. _Ha-ha, so funny. But seriously, thank you, Jake. I owe you one. And… even maybe more than one. Because my mom asks if you’ll have dinner with us tonight. So what should I tell her? You don’t have to do it if you already have plans, or if you just don’t want to. I’d understand. But if you do, I’ll order us some pizzas from your favourite place…_

She knows him so well, and knows how to talk to him – what to tell him to make him accept her request. Never in any world would he say no to pizza. But it’s not only _his_ choice this time – he’s supposed to have dinner with Charles already. The guy’s just been dumped by his girlfriend, and he needs Jake by his side to get through the pain it makes him feel. That’s what he’s ready to write anyway, before his friend interfere in the conversation he’s been reading the whole time.

“Oh. My. God. Tell me you’re going to agree on doing this, please?” he seems pretty psyched about the whole thing.

“But Charles, we’re supposed to eat together,” the other student reminds him of their plans.

“Yeah, well, we can post-pone it. Do it tomorrow if you’re not too busy with your _girlfriend_. It’s not everyday you’ll get that chance.”

“But, what about you? Didn’t you need someone to cheer you up?” Jake’s still hesitant.

“I’ll be fine, I promise,” his friend tries to reassure him. “Actually, nothing could cheer me up more than you having a date with Amy and her mother.”

“It’s not a date,” he protests, but Charles doesn’t care, and only goes on.

“Maybe, but it’ll turn into one soon, I’m sure. Don’t blow that up, Jakey. Make her know how you feel. Now’s your best chance.”

Jake takes a look at him for a few seconds, trying to see if there’s some part inside his friend that actually wants him to stay, but he’s smiling so brightly at the idea, he finally decides to do as he’s told, and answers to his roommate’s text.

_How dare you tempting me w/ pizza?!_

(Just to make everything look more dramatic, he adds three “shocked-face” emojis to his message before going on with the rest of it.)

_Y'know I can’t say no to pizza. Don’t forget tho: for me it’s meat supreme, display temperature. Be back by 7. See ya._

For a moment he stares at his screen, not sending it right away. He’s hesitant to do so, but eventually adds a “kissing-heart” emoji to conclude his text. He’s afraid she’ll think he’s crossing a line here, but he finds himself quite enjoying this “I’m-your-boyfriend-now” card, and wants to use it as much as he can during the small amount of time I’ll be able to.

After all, if she didn’t want him to act like this, she just shouldn’t have involved him in the first place. Because she knew him too damn well not to except this – him making a full show of the situation.

Despite her probably being busy with whatever she’s doing with her mother right now, it doesn’t take long before he receives an answer. A simple _“thank you”_.

He doesn’t really know what he was expecting, but he finds himself quite disappointed by such a cold reply. He knows she isn’t one for showing a lot of emotions through texts though, and that he really shouldn’t be reading into it. She’s thankful for what he’s doing, so she writes so.

Nothing less, nothing more.

He can’t help but tease her about it anyway. _I hope your mother doesn’t read your texts, you don’t really seem into me in them. Have you at least changed my name from “Jake Peralta” to something less formal? Like maybe… “babe” or some other cute name? :p_

Once again, it only takes her a few seconds to send her response. _No. Some people actually know what respecting other people’s privacy is, Jake. I know for a fact she would never do that._

_Too bad,_ he goes on with his teasing – he likes it way too much. _Would have loved having an actual screenshot of you calling me 'babe’ to show everyone how much you actually love me – because we both know you do. And to remind you of what you made me do in the future, also…_

Just to be sure she understands he’s only joking, and because he loves them too much (blame it on Gina and the huge amount of time he’s spent with her), he adds three “grinning” emojis before sending his text. He’s startled for a minute and has to re-read her answer several times to be sure he’s not dreaming when he sees it.

_In your dreams… babe_ , followed by an “heart” emoji, which is the most disturbing thing… _ever_.

Amy never uses emojis. She finds them useless, thinks that you don’t need them to make people understand your tone of voice if you know how to use your language properly.

That’s how he knows she’s only playing along with him. Still, he likes it very much, and can’t stop his own heart from missing a beat at the sight of this one adressed to _him_. From _her_.

He doesn’t wait to send her a bunch of “heart-eyes” emojis himself then, adding a dramatic (but somehow quite true) _OMG it’s a dream coming true rn!!!!_ to it.

Charles is by his side the whole time they’re texting each other, reading all messages in a religious silence, smiling broadly at everything he sees on the screen. “You two are so adorable,” he can’t help but sigh with contentment once Jake has sent the last one, which makes him look up to his friend… and watch him as he wipes off an actual tear from his blurry eyes.

“Are you okay?” the younger of the two asks, suddenly taken back to the reality of the moment.

“Yeah,” the other one answers, trying to sound as convincing as he can. “It’s just… I wish I could find someone with whom I can have such a beautiful relationship as you guys have.”

“Oh…” is all Jake manages to say, hate for himself coming to him while he realises what’s really happening here, and how bad of a friend he can act sometimes. Charles has just broken up with his girlfriend, and needs him right now, and the only thing he does is flirting with his own crush?!

_Unbelievable._

Quickly he puts his phone back in his pocket, not letting himself be interrupted by it anymore, then adds, giving the student his whole attention this time. “I’m so sorry, Charles. I promise I’m all yours now. And I’m sure you’ll find someone else. Someone worthy of you. How couldn’t you? You’re the kindest guy I know. The best friend anyone could ask for.”

“You really think so?” he’s fast to find his smile again at this unexpected declaration of friendship.

“Of course I do.”

* * *

 

It’s only after some hours and a lot of discussions, sure that his friend is feeling okay again, that Jake leaves him to go back to his apartment, where Amy and her mother surely are waiting for him (it’s already almost seven – he’ll be late, as he often is, but he has a pretty good reason for it this time). Now that he’s back to being alone he allows himself to look at his phone, and sees that she actually sent him another text soon after the last ones they shared.

_Check your e-mails, please. I’ve just sent you a list of things we should agree on, to build a coherent enough story. I’m sorry it’s a really rough version of it, I didn’t have much time, I wrote it while my mom was in the shower and couldn’t think of everything important to know. But if we’re lucky enough, I think we can manage to actually make it. At least I hope so…_

Jake is already aware he’ll find something very complete when he opens his e-mails as he’s told to do so, because it’s Amy Santiago we’re talking about, and her vision of _rough_ is in fact far more complete than anyone else’s, but he’s clearly startled anyway when he sees the 5-pages long document appear in front of his eyes. How is he supposed to learn by heart everything that’s written in the less-than-thirty-minutes’ walk he has from where he stands to his apartment?

That’s completely insane.

He doesn’t give up though, and simple chooses to only read the most important sections, skipping all the useless ones – and there’s a lot, he discovers soon enough, like the one describing with astounishing details their _third_ date (who the hell would ask them what they had for dinner that night?! And anyway, who would even remember it?!) – and concentrating on the important ones.

_How long have they been dating (exactly two months and sixteen days), how did it happen?_

Just to be safe, he saves the document in his phone as well, so that when he unlocks the screen, he can immediately reach for it if he needs to check it for some more information he doesn’t remember throughout the dinner. He’s just finished to read the last important piece of it all when he arrives in front of his door so he doesn’t wait and opens it, fully ready to play his part.  
But, to much of his surprise, Amy’s alone at the already layed table when he enters the room. She seems nervous, he can tell from the way she’s typing it with her fingers without really realising what she’s doing, lost in the tracks of her thoughts.

“Where’s your mom?” he asks, curious, when she finally notices him and leaves a relieved sigh at his sight. She stands up and comes to him so that she can talk to him in whispers.

“In the toilets,” she points towards it. “Thanks again for doing this for me, you’re an actual angel.”

“Glad you finally come to realising that, after all this time,” he jokes in an attempt to make her feel less stressed, and it seems to work given the small smile that brightens her features. “But seriously, it’s no problem.”

She smiles again, but doesn’t reply anything, so they just awkwardly stand there in silence, not really knowing how to act or what to say. That is, until Elena appears, and exclaims, breaking the quietness of the room, “oh, Jake, I’m so glad you were able to make it! Amy told me how busy you were, so I really appreciate you’re finding some time to meet me, now that she finally spilled the truth about the both of you.”

“Of course,” he tells her with a smile. “I would have missed the chance of meeting this wonderful lady’s mother for nothing,” he adds, passing a hand around Amy’s shoulders to pull her nearer to his side, grinning widely this time.

It’s a new and weird but _good_ feeling, to actually have her that close to him.

“The pizzas are on their way,” Amy informs them, trying to think about something else than Jake’s hand around her and how it makes her heart beats faster at the touch. “Shall we… have a drink, before they arrive?” she suggests.

Both her mother and fake-boyfriend agree, so they all end up heading towards the table, the other student finally letting go of her to take his place face-to-face with her, while Elena sits by her side.

She’s relieved and sad at the same time that he left her – a strange mix of feelings.

Their guest doesn’t wait long before starting her interrogation, all the questions she had burning her tongue for having to wait the whole day before asking them (actually, she asked _a lot_ of them to her daughter when they were alone already, but wants to hear about Jake’s version as well). That’s how he finds himself spending the entire dinner talking about (and fondly remembering) how the two students met four years ago when they entered university, why they chose to live together at the beginning of this year (and why choose Amy’s apartment and not his – because of a bet they made and he lost, or let her win, to be completely precise) up until the moment they started seeing each other as more than just friends and decided to turn it into a real relationship.

Thanks to his trick of checking his roommate’s document from time to time, Jake actually finds a way to answer right to every question Elena asks him about them. At least it’s the case until she asks _the_ one whose answer isn’t in the document he’s using as a back-up.

A very personal question, that leaves him completely taken aback when he hears it.

“So, tell me. I know how perfect my daughter is, but I’m curious. What made you fall for her?”

Both students almost chock on their part of pizza when hearing this, and share a look of surprise. A few seconds pass before the only male at the table finally speaks. “Oh, I would love to answer that,” he says as if he means it, in search of what to tell her.

Well, actually he _knows_ what he could tell her, what he _would_ tell her if the situation was real. But it’s not, and Amy doesn’t know he’s fallen for her already, so he has to come up with an answer that doesn’t let it show too much. That’s how he ends up miserably confessing, “she's… beautiful.”

Elena doesn’t seem pleased by this reply, because she looks like she’s waiting for him to continue, when really he doesn’t have anything else planned to say. Amy also awaits, and he swears he can see in her eyes when he looks at her that she’s sad and disappointed when she realises that’s all he has – that he can’t come up with more, or something _better_ than just complimenting her looks.

That’s why he finally chooses to simply tell the whole truth, and takes a deep breath to help him find some courage. He doesn’t stop staring at her while he speaks.

Because Charles is right. Now’s the perfect occasion to spill everything out of his chest, after all this time he spent trying to hide his feelings from her. He needs her to know, now.

Know that she _is_ more than just “beautiful”, as he said she is.

“And, well, you know how it works, those things,” he adds to his previous words then. “One day you think she’s just your friend and the next you find yourself surprising her with making her breakfast for the first time because some jerk dumped her so you want to make her smile, because you truly _hate_ it when she’s sad, and she’s here telling you how _good_ and _nice_ it is what you did, and it’s all that matters now because really, nothing matters most than _her_ opinion to you and you’re so relieved she seems to find her smile again that it does this weird thing in your stomach and you finally understand what your friends already tried to make you realise before: that’s more than just friendship and sharing a flat that you want with her. It’s sharing her _life_ – you know, romantic-stylez.”

If it wasn’t for the last comment he made, Amy would have been sure he’d been telling what he truly felt inside of him – he was so serious while saying all the beautiful things he said, never leaving her gaze, making her remember about this day she herself came to realise how deep she had fallen for him already (which was, she never told him, the whole reason of her break-up with her ex-boyfriend and it not working out)… But then the always-joking-Jake came back, with this proud grin upon is face that said nothing more than “ _nailed it!_ ” and she knew he was just putting all his efforts not to blow their cover. She was disappointed with his first statement, and somehow ends up being even more disappointed by this new one. It’s not his fault this time, though.

It’s hers, for coming up with such a stupid idea in the first place.

There’s complete silence between the three adults for a brief moment, each and every one of them overwhelmed by Jake’s heartfelt speech, until Elena finally breaks it. “Well, I hope you won’t be the next 'jerk’ to dump her,” is all she manages to say between the emotions she’s feeling right now. She knows he won’t though – she’s never heard someone speak with that much love in his voice than Jake talking about how he fell for her daughter.

“I could hardly do that,” he confirms her doubts, and there’s nothing truer than this. Because how could he dump her when they’re not even _really_ together?

(How could he dump her if they were? She’s perfect.)

It takes some other minutes for the atmosphere to go back to normal, but when it does, nothing else significant happens and dinner then goes on as smoothly as it can, everyone enjoying it truly.

By the end of it, Amy’s mother insists on doing the dishes while both lovers go pick a movie for the three of them to watch. In other times they would have argued with her, told her they could do it or at least help her, but they don’t, actually relieved to have some time alone to discuss things.

_Important_ things. Like how are they going to make their lie go through the night, for example…

“Can I… stay in your room, tonight?” the brunette girl is the one who brings the subject first.

“Why would you do that?!” Jake asks in surprise.

“Well, because that’s what couples do, share a room. And we’re a couple this weekend, remember?”

“Oh, yeah, true,” he admits. “But why _my_ room, then?!”

“Because there’s no way I’m letting my mother sleep in there, it’s such a mess!” Amy complains.

“Eh, careful with what you say, if you don’t want to be the one sleeping on the floor,” Jake feels insulted by this comment. “I’ll let you know I clean it quite often, thank you very much!”

“I know, I’m sorry,” the girl calms down, burying her face in her hands for a second. “It’s just… you know me. Plus it’s _my_ mother, wouldn’t it be weird to let her sleep in your bed instead of mine?!”

She actually has a point here. And Jake _does_ know her too, and how she can freak out sometimes. That’s why he takes a way gentler voice when he answers, touching her arm to make her look at him again, “you’re right, my room it is then. But what are you going to tell her when she sees that all your stuff is still in you room and not mine?”

“I… don’t know?” Amy genuinely answers – she didn’t think of it before, to be honest. However she quickly thinks about a good excuse for it. “I suppose I’ll just tell her that since it’s only been two months we’re dating, and even if we’re already living together because of this whole 'roommates situation’ we don’t want to rush things and only have one room for the both of us right now.”

Her friend suddenly seems truly amused. “Look at you Santiago,” he jokes, “how good you are at making up lies. Who would have seen that coming?”

She punches him in the ribs as a response to that, feeling the heat coming from her ears and down her cheeks as she’s starting blusing. “This is not funny,” she retorts in all seriousness, “I actually feel bad for doing it to her. For doing it to _you_ …”

“Oh, don’t worry about that, I have _so many_ ideas for you to make it up to me,” he laughs in an attempt to make her feel better about all of it, and manages to avoid it when she tries to punch him again. At least a smile is back on her face while she’s doing so, and _it’s all that matters_.

It doesn’t take long for Elena to come back after that, just enough time for them to actually choose a movie, as they’ve been asked to do. That’s how they end up all seated on the couch in front of _Die Hard_ – of course Amy let her roommate choose what he wanted them to watch tonight.

(And of course he didn’t hesitate one bit to choose this one.)

She owes him that, and way more.

A few minutes from the beginning, Amy pulls herself further into her fake-boyfriend’s side, and he naturally passes an arm around her shoulders as a response to it, without even looking her way. She lets her head fall in the crook of his neck – she suddenly feels so good in his embrace, can so easily picture herself acting like this in their everyday-life and all, she almost pulls herself away at the thought of it because she simply _can’t_ think of it. She chooses to stay anyway.

How could she explain it to her mother otherwise? It’s not as if she has a choice.

(It’s not as if she wants to stay away from him now, either.)

Plus her friend doesn’t seem to complain about their proximity, so she just tries to calm the fast beating of her heart, and focus on what is happening on the screen before her eyes.

She can’t, though. Not when Jake’s words from earlier during dinner choose to come back to her mind, and doesn’t seem to want to leave her alone, shaking her so much.

_And it’s all that matters now because really, nothing matters most than her opinion to you._

_That’s more than just friendship and sharing a flat that you want with her. It’s sharing her life._

That’s how she finds herself, some time later, when they’re alone in his bedroom and all is quiet around them now that her mother went to bed herself, telling him, “I didn’t do it earlier, but I really must congratulate you. Even _I_ almost believed your speech about how you knew you were falling for me.”

“I know, right?!” Jake suddenly feels nervous about his roommate bringing that subject back, and immediately tries to hide it behind a joke, so that she can’t tell he meant it _for realz_. “I’m a hell of a good comedian, didn’t you know that already? _I_ am the one who taught Bruce Willis everything he had to know to kill it like he does in _Die Hard_.”

She can’t help but laugh at that. He’s so in love with those movies, that’s insane. And it actually makes her feel a little bit better, to be able to joke around with him like they always do.

“I suppose I’m sleeping on the floor?” his question startles her, and all of a sudden everything comes back to being serious and awkward between them.

Why would he sleep on the floor? She can’t let him sleep on the floor.

She doesn’t _want_ him to sleep on the floor.

“Don’t be so stupid,” she starts reprimanding him, then. “We’re two grown-up, intelligent people. And we’re friends. So we can still share a bed without making a whole deal out of it, can’t we?”

She’s actually not quite sure if _she_ can not make a whole deal out of it when it comes to sharing a bed with _him_ and not Charles or Terry or any of her other guy friends, but she clearly won’t tell him that. Well, seeing how he’s grinning at her reply, she’s afraid she said the last part out loud.

(Just like she did when she called him her _boyfriend_ in front of her mother.)

“What?!” she asks, praying for not having embarassed herself too much.

“You think I’m intelligent!” he’s glowing now.

She can’t keep the sigh of relief that comes out of her mouth at that. She still rolls her eyes at his childish comment though, even if she, too, wears a huge smile upon her face.

“Shut up,” she answers, faking exasperation.

“Awww,” he puts his hands together while looking at her and taking an exaggerated voice, just to mock her. “I love you too, babe.”

She _knows_ he’s only playing the game she came up with in the first place but God, his words go right through her core anyway, and it’s not her fault if her stomach starts making her feel things she didn’t ask for at the sound of what he told her. She tries not to overthink it – utterly fails at it – and go straight to bed, soon followed by her roommate.

She has a hard time finding sleep however, with Jake’s breath she can feel on her back she has towards him, and his words stuck on her head again.

_I love you too, babe._

Oh, how much she wishes he truly felt like it for her, and that this wasn’t just a game…

* * *

 

The next day happens to go on way more smoothly that the last, without any awkward moment between the two roommates and Amy’s mother. They spend the whole day wandering around the city, and except for having to hold hands while they’re showing their guest New-York, they don’t have to display that much shows of attentions to one another this time, or come with fake stories.

In the late afternoon they come back to the apartment, so that Elena can pick her stuff up and have some time to prepare before taking the taxi that will take her to the airport.

“Amy, sweetheart, can you go collect my things in your room for me, please?”

Her daughter guesses what she’s really doing here – she wants to have some time alone with her fake-son-in-law to talk to him in private – and she’s about to argue to prevent Jake from having to go through that moment, but when she actually looks at him, he only nods to make her know he doesn’t mind being left alone with her. She doesn’t say anything then, and does as she’s asked.

Once she’s sure her child is out of sight and can’t hear her anymore, Elena speaks again. “I like you, Jake,” she starts her own speech, and he blushes a little to that. He senses a _but_ , though, so doesn’t take it for granted too early nor say anything in return just now. “And I’m only telling you what I’m going to share because of that,” she continues.

Here it comes. Panic rushes through him a little – what is it she’s going to tell him?!

“I know my daughter and you aren’t actually in a relationship. I know she lied to me only because she’s sick of me trying to set her up with my friends’ sons. Or what I thought anyway, because after spending the whole weekend with you, I’m starting to think that maybe she simply wanted her lie to be reality. That’s why I didn’t say anything about it until now. And that’s also why I almost believed you _were_ together – because you weren’t really playing an act, finally.”

The young man stays silent, processing what he’s heard, and not knowing what he can, or can’t say. It’s something between Amy and her mother, not him. Well, him a little bit, but not him _alone_.

“I’m sorry we lied to you,” he finally answers, though. “I was just… I was just trying to help my friend. Because with all due respect, that’s how she sees me. As a friend, and nothing more.”

He doesn’t even try to deny that _he_ , on the other hand, sees her as more than just it. He lied enough to her throughout the weekend to add another one to the list.

“I can’t really blame you for that,” she answers. “I just wished she would have told me to stop, even if I can understand why she wouldn’t, after all the times she tried to do so. I couldn’t see at that time how upsetting it was for her, but I just wanted to help. It appears she didn’t need my help after all, because she _does_ like you, Jake, I can assure you that. You know this thing she seems to do a lot, to 'double-tuck’ her hair behind both her ears at the same time? Well, she doesn’t do it that often, normally. Only when she’s into someone. That’s how I always managed to know who she had a crush on back when she was a teenager and wouldn’t talk to be about these things. And well, all I could notice this weekend is that she did that every time you were around. Haven’t you?”

He had, actually. He just didn’t pay it much attention before, to be honest; thought it was nothing relevant. And now he’s too overwhelmed by everything he’s heard to think properly.

“Hum… interesting,” is all he manages to reply then, turning is head towards where Amy is leaving her room with her mother’s luggages in her hands, watching her with a tender smile as she seems lost in her own thoughts.

He can’t add more to this, because the next second she’s at his and Elena’s sides, and they all have to say goodbye – meaning all of their pretending has come to an end.

“What did my mother tell you?” his roommate wants to know as soon as they’re back to being alone – and friends, just friends, nothing more than _friends_.

“She told me she liked me,” he grins, seemingly really happy about the fact.

“Seriously?” she seems surprised that’s all she wanted to say – especially wanting to be _alone_ with him to tell him so.

“Yep. Is it that difficult to imagine, someone actually liking me?”

“No…”

There’s no joke here. No sign of amusement in her voice. Just plain truth. _It’s even so easy to like him,_ she thinks, _she’s completely fallen for him…_

“Listen, Jake…” she seems hesitant when she take the floor again, hardly looking him in the eye. “I know you told me several times already it’s okay, but I’m really sorry I dragged you with me in this whole situation. I hope I didn’t ruin your weekend too much. I know it’s bad what I did, and I promise I will call my mother to explain everything as soon as she’s back home. I should have never done that, I realise it now – and I will never do that again. You’ve acted so nicely all weekend, so if you want me to do anything for you, you just have to ask, I will…”

She’s rambling so much, it makes him smile wider and wider at every new sentence she says because of how adorable she is right now, trying to explain herself. She doesn’t have to, though – he isn’t mad at her for anything. Couldn’t be mad at her for anything anyway.

The only thought he has in mind are her mother’s words. That’s why, when she finally stop talking and double-tucks her hair behind both her ears, waiting for him to answer something, anything that would make her feel better about the whole situation, he finally takes the chance.

He doesn’t say anything, no. The only reply he gives her is by _kissing_ her.

She seems surprised at first – she didn’t think _this_ would happen of all things, even when she had dreamed of it, but soon enough she answers it, finally allowing herself to melt into his embrace and _truly_ and _fully_ enjoy it.

Because it’s not play-pretend this time. It is _real_.

(When she calls her mother later that night, she indeed tells her the whole truth. They lied to her throughout the weekend about their romantic relationship, yeah.

But they’re not anymore.)


End file.
